Damage to Liver induced by DL-Methionine-Ethylester

Abstract

PERRI et al. have observed that tryptophanmethylester inhibits the growth of several bacteria¹. Horváth et al. found that the adaptive enzyme product of Penicillium chrysogenum inhibits glycine-, isoleucine- and phenylalanine-methylester and supposed that the amino-acid-ester takes part in protein synthesis after the acyl-activation and with its bound carboxyl group stops peptide production². According to this hypothesis the amino-group of the esterified amino-acid is more reactive than the natural one, therefore the activated amino-acid reacts mainly with the ester. Although in the above-mentioned work no completion experiments were performed, the results suggest that the amino-acid-esters behave like antimetabolites on lower organisms.